Effects of relative deprivation on change in displaced aggression and the underlying motivation mechanism: A three‐wave cross‐lagged analysis

Abstract

Displaced aggression refers to pernicious acts against innocent people. To date, little is known about mechanisms underlying dynamic changes in displaced aggression. The present study constructed a cross‐lagged model to examine the dynamic effects of relative deprivation on displaced aggression and the mediation mechanisms underlying these effects. A total of 1130 undergraduate students participated in this three‐wave longitudinal study. The results showed that relative deprivation predicted changes in displaced aggression through concurrent changes in levels of hostile attribution bias and moral disengagement. Hostile attribution bias and moral disengagement could predict each other longitudinally. The relationships between relative deprivation and displaced aggression, and relative deprivation and hostile attribution bias were mutual. This multiple mediation model with two mutually predicting mediators was explained from the aggressive motivation perspective. The findings help inform aggression theories and have implications for the prevention of and interventions against displaced aggression.

Understanding the moral cognition of aggression: Longitudinal serial effects of personal relative deprivation and hostility on within‐person changes in civic moral disengagement

“…For example, the general aggression model (Anderson & Bushman, 2018;Anderson & Carnagey, 2004) suggests that the distal causal factors of aggression (e.g., deprivation experiences) could affect its proximal causal factors (e.g., moral justification, displacement of responsibility, and dehumanization, which are typical mechanisms of moral disengagement) (Bandura, 2002). Importantly, personal relative deprivation predicts civic moral disengagement after 6 months (Guo et al, 2024).…”

“…Additionally, a cross-sectional survey found that the relative deprivation perceived by British adults, compared with lowstatus immigrants (Indian and Polish), was associated with dehumanization (a mechanism of moral disengagement) toward these immigrant groups (Gheorghiu et al, 2022). Second, as a chronic adverse social experience, personal relative deprivation may persist and occur repeatedly (Guo et al, 2024); thus, the deleterious effect of personal relative deprivation could be sustained over a long time. For instance, relative deprivation longitudinally predicts behavioral and mental factors such as aggression (Greitemeyer & Sagioglou, 2019b), life satisfaction, and mental health (Schmitt et al, 2010).…”

“…There are two possible explanations for these ideas and findings. First, relative deprivation can be regarded as a frustrating social experience (Berkowitz, 1989;Guo et al, 2024), where frustration is believed to lead to hostility (Ferguson et al, 2021;Williams, 2009). Second, personal relative deprivation might promote hostility-related cognitive distortions.…”

“…The Chinese version of the scale has shown acceptable reliability and validity (Guo & Xia, 2023). To further improve the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the scale, the descriptions of the two reversescored items were modified (Guo et al, 2024). Each item is rated on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 ("completely disagree") to 6 ("completely agree").…”

“…Thus, personal relative deprivation may be a chronic social experience that can persist and occur repeatedly over a long time (Guo et al, 2024).…”